REMEMBERING BOB FILNER: THE LEADER WHO COULDN’T LEAD

Bob Filner’s time at City Hall will be known most for one thing: He was the mayor forced to resign after just 270 days because his shameful treatment of women prompted lawsuits, civil and criminal investigations and a serious recall drive, and because he had lost the trust and support of the overwhelming majority of San Diegans.

Filner loses his title, the keys to the mayor’s office and his ability to pursue his “progressive” agenda at 5 p.m. Friday. He spent his final week in office as the nearly invisible man — making no public appearances, no public statements and apparently carrying out none of the typical mayoral duties. It was a stunning contrast to the whirlwind mayor of the first seven months who earned the Twitter hashtag #FilnerEverywhere for his nonstop schedule and who thoroughly upended the established order of things at City Hall through his intimidating manner, his chaotic micromanagement and his relentless battles against the business and political establishment he said he was elected to topple.

In the transition between Filner’s Nov. 6 election over bitter rival Carl DeMaio and his inauguration as San Diego’s 35th mayor on Dec. 3, there was little sign of the turmoil to come. Indeed, he won commendation from this newspaper’s editorial board during that brief period of calm for his “two cities and one region” outreach to his municipal colleagues across the border in Tijuana.

But barely a week after taking office, we warned that the new mayor might already be backtracking on his pledge to carry out the voter-approved managed competition reform that promised to save many millions of taxpayer dollars but that was strongly opposed by Filner’s friends in the public employee unions.

By the turn of the new year, it was clear City Hall and San Diego were in for a very bumpy ride.

At a closed meeting on Jan. 2, Filner told City Attorney Jan Goldsmith that he didn’t have to follow the attorney’s advice and didn’t intend to seek it. And on Jan. 10, the U-T San Diego published its first editorial calling out the mayor for his personal insults of Goldsmith and for his bullying tactics with City Council President Todd Gloria, a fellow Democrat.

By late spring, after more battles with the council and Goldsmith, a prolonged battle between Filner and the business community over tourism marketing, and controversies over his dealings with developers, the first whispers of a potential recall drive were heard. But his political base reveled in his anti-establishment, stick-it-in-your-eye approach to governing and any recall talk was just talk.

The beginning of the end came just seven weeks ago, with the first news of then-unidentified women who had begun to come forward with allegations of various forms of sexual harassment, groping, offensive language and unwanted advances. Filner issued confirmations of sorts and denials of sorts, apologized and said he would undergo behavior therapy. But the trickle of allegations became a flood, with credible names attached. Investigations were begun. A real recall drive was launched. It fast became clear that, one way or another, Filner was finished.

And at 5 this afternoon, he will be.

To the extent that there were positive accomplishments in the Filner record — and there were some, and the beginning of others — they will be dramatically overshadowed by the sexual-harassment scandal.

“Certainly it was never my intention to be a mayor who went out like this,” Filner said in his bizarre Aug. 23 resignation announcement.